Conflicts of interest, and worse.

The closer we come to Trump's presidency, the more we see that conflicts of interest will rule the day.  Yes, there are quite a few cabinet appointees who are likely to oppose the goals and purposes of the departments which are supposed to head.  But this pales when one thinks of how much business will be done with the Trump Organization while the Trump family has access to the White House and the powers of the sitting president.

Are people upset?  Yes, including many in the GOP.  But party loyalty is getting in the way of eliminating this problem.  The GOP is getting drunk on the power they expect to have as of January 20th. Big business will get everything it wants for the next 4 years, and very little will get in the way.  People who voted for Trump to drain the swamp will again be disappointed. And that leads to the question: Can anything be done to stop this mess?

At the time I write this, there is a movement to have 37 "faithless electors" deny Trump the presidency and force the election to the House.  This movement of "Hamilton Electors" is trying to get 37 electors to vote for a Republican like Kasich, giving the House the chance to restore sanity to the presidency before anyone takes office. Although I doubt this movement will change things, it would be nice to see the election go to the House, and it would be nice to see the GOP toss Trump out.  Even though they would likely keep Pence as the VP in
this scenario, we would avoid even larger problems from a man (Trump) who believes that 

"l'état, c'est moi"

Or, in English: 

"I AM THE STATE!"

If we look at French History, shortly after the American Revolution ended, the French Revolution started as a response to the corruption of France's elites.  Eventually, it resulted in an end to France's monarchy (vive la Guillotine!) and prepared the way for Napoleon and his destructive behaviors. Can America afford to go down this path?  No.  But we will know if it is more likely than not depending on whether the Hamilton Elector movement succeeds or not. And by the time you read this entry, we will have the answer to this question....






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The races for the Nominations

It now looks like we're likely to see a Clinton vs. Trump general election.  And given the choice between the two, I'd like to be able to say "None of the Above".

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Of all the candidates still running for office, Hillary is the only one with Federal Executive branch experience.  Kasich was a governor of a state, Sanders and Cruz are Senators, and Trump....  He's a great big bag of wind.  Yet, people like that breeze.  No, it's not a breath of fresh air.  Instead, it's a storm which his supporters hope blows the old regime out of office.

As much as I want the old regimes from both parties thrown out of power, I still wonder - will their replacements do any better?  From what I can tell, Trump will likely become much more reasonable in what he says the closer election day comes.  Hillary will likely attack Trump for the stupid things he said in his run up to getting the GOP nomination.

Hillary has a big problem - if she doesn't take care of the needs of the Sanders supporters, she will only be a one term president.  She is not the type to stomach that.  She needs the people that are loyal to Sanders, and he has not extracted his price for his support.  No doubt, he does not trust Hillary to support the things he campaigned for, and he will be a tough negotiator - especially when he got so many delegates in a campaign season in which Hillary was expected to have an easy march to the nomination.  

What happens if Sanders is able to extract his price from Hillary?  Can Trump exploit a leftward turn from the Democrats' presumptive nominee?  I'm not sure.  Trump is already to the left of much of the GOP, and many in the GOP like things he has supported before primary season.  Could we see a Trump run to election day as a person more moderate than Hillary?  

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As they say - Only time will tell....